"Satire" and "prank" websites are being weaponized as fake news

UPDATE: On October 28, a post on the Facebook page America's Last Line Of Defense apologized for the post smearing La David Johnson and claimed that the "author ... decided to pull the story." However, the article as of this update is still online.

Websites that have branded themselves as “satirical” or as intending to “prank” people are contributing to the problem of fake news spreading on social media and elsewhere online, as their articles are picked up by users and fake news purveyors who present the false content as real. Some of these supposedly satirical pieces have even been used to smear people, including fallen soldier Sgt. La David Johnson.

Throughout the last year, fact-checking organizations have beenforced to debunk numerous storiesposted on websites that carry a disclaimer that they are “satirical.” Often, fake news purveyors will share these websites’ stories as if they are real, such as when American News pushed a story from a satirical blog claiming a Navy destroyer hit a Houston building due to flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. Some of these “satirical” stories have also been shared on social media as seemingly real.

There is a role for satire in our public discourse. The Onion, for instance, has become a widely popular website that entertains many people, often while making interesting or thought-provoking points. But there is a difference between parody and deception, and websites like The Last Line of Defense too often engage in the latter. Indeed, Michelle Amazeen, an assistant professor of mass communication at Boston University, told Snopes that people don’t often note the disclaimers, and Dartmouth professor Brendan Nyhan has said that these websites seem “more like a way to make the other side look bad and/or make money while spreading misinformation" than like genuine satire.

And yet some who run the sites seem to be in denial. LLOD’s Facebook page attacked Snopes for writing a “hit piece” after it called out the Johnson article and quoted Blair as saying, “There are numerous quotes and posts our (sic) there covering my thoughts. Be a reporter and find them. I’m done giving interviews that turn into yet another article about what a jerk I am.” An LLOD writer told fact-checker Lead Stories that his site’s made-up stories were acceptable because of “multiple disclaimers” and said that “some blame needs to be assigned to the mouth-breathing, neanderthalic Trump fans who don't care about facts in the most literal sense.” But contrary to their defenses, these "satire" websites and writers are simply injecting more misinformation into society, and are complicit in spreading fake news.

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AlexKaplan
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Alex Kaplan is a research coordinator at Media Matters with a focus on far-right media and fake news. Before joining the staff in March 2015, he was press secretary for the 2014 Democratic nominee for governor of Oklahoma. He has a bachelor’s degree in communications, law, economics, and government from American University.